Finding US accounting roles with foreign experience and no CPA
Most companies and recruiters refuse to consider foreign accounting experience or equivalent senior backgrounds for management roles without a local CPA license. This leaves experienced professionals stuck getting ghosted or pressured into taking lower-level audit senior positions instead of the manager roles they are qualified for.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Applying for lower-level audit senior roles instead of manager positions
- 2transitioning to the same firm's local office to have them pay for the certification
- 3clarifying to industry employers that ACCA is equivalent to the local designation
- 4obtaining the Canadian CPA from scratch or as swiftly as possible
- 5thinking to move abroad and still work for a US company
- 6Leveraging international rotations or secondment programs at public accounting firms
- 7Finding remote audit roles with global clients
- 8Landing a position at a multinational company with an overseas office to navigate local hiring and visas
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I've recently moved to the USA and really struggling to find any role that will even consider my UK experience”source ↗
“Had one recruiter suggest applying for audit senior roles (have been a manager/senior manager for 10 years now so can't really bring myself to do that again yet) but is that really my only option without a CPA?”source ↗
“I've been applying for audit manager and accounting manager roles in my specialty but I'm rarely even hearing back from recruiters.”source ↗
“I'm a CPA in Alberta, the job market is extremely competitive.”source ↗
“I think you will find that you will need to pursue a Canadian CPA, ACCA does not carry much weight in this market.”source ↗
“have u been able to move out of the US with ur degree?”source ↗
“accountants who have moved their life across the world and still work in accounting? how has it been and was it easy to find a job?”source ↗
“You would have to obtain the Canadian License from scratch.”source ↗
“Many Canadian industry employers don’t even know what ACCA is, as it’s not a thing here, so there will be some effort involved in you selling the merits of the designation.”source ↗
“So I just wanted to know how would I be able to get a job that’s remote that would allow me to go pretty much live in Italy and work for an American company or even get a job in Italy?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Are there travel accountant jobs like travel nursing?
- 4Do I need a master's degree to teach high school English?
- 7What other career paths are there with an accounting degree?
- 4Can't find a CPA to sign off on experience for a license
- 4Why am I paying for professional certs that barely increase my pay?
- 18How to break into accounting as an international student with a low GPA